You Only Live Once
by Cotton1Candie
Summary: Grace is just some girl that joins our group. No big deal. Yeah, shes southern like me, and shes kinda perdy...But I don't like her. Nope. I don't...do I? EllisXOC


**Hello there everyone! I'm back! xD**

**Sorry it took me forever to get something else up, I've been busy with school and relationships and friendship problems and all that, buuuuuutttttttttt, I didn't totally forget you guys! I have this!**

**DUH NAH NAH NAAAAAHHHH! You have acquired a new story! Lol. anyway, This is what I have been writing for the past month and a half..This isn't even edited. I wanted to get it out so that I had a fresh story out on the board..But I'm going to print it out and give it to a friend of mine who will edit it for me. Of course, I will fix it when it gets done, but who knows when that'll happen right?**

**Welp, enjoy this EllisXOC Fic goin' on here!**

* * *

><p>"Okay, so not cool." I said swinging my aluminum bat, aiming for an infected's head, knocking it right off its shoulders. I swung at another one, but of course, I miss. And OF COURSE, said infected pushed me to the ground, just as I heard the oh so famous hunters screech.<p>

"Damnit, NO!" I closed my eyes and waited for the claws that would surely rip me apart and pull out my intestines like what happened to Ricky.

Poor, poor Ricky.

When I didn't feel the claws jabbing into me and ripping me apart, I opened my eyes, only to see four people standing over me. I screamed and pulled out my pistols and aimed it at one that had a hat on. The guy backed up and put his hands in the air.

"Whoa there lady! We ain't any infected! We is immune!" I saw movement closer to me from the man in a white suit and blue shirt. I flipped my guns at him and flipped the safety on them, ready to shoot. He backed off a little bit.

"Stop pointin' your damn guns at me and let me help you to your feet!" I glared at him for a second before flipping the safety's back and putting my guns in their holsters. I reached for the man's hand and he grabbed it, pulling me to my feet. When I got to my feet, the darker skinned girl handed me my baseball bat with a smile. I took it and nodded thanks to her. I looked at the last person in the group. He was tall and kinda chunky. He also was darker skinned, unlike the other two, the one with the hat and the one in the suit, they were white. Well, the one in the hat was tanner than the one in the suit, but that doesn't really matter does it? I turned to the girl and nodded at her.

"Starting with you, ah want to know yer names n'ages." The girl raised her eyebrow before starting off.

"My names Rochelle, Ro for short if you'd like. I produced a news show. I'm 29." She turned to the other darker skinned member and nodded to him. He smiled at me.

"My friends call me Coach. I guess you can too. I'm 44." He nodded to the guy in the suit who looked quite grumpy in my opinion.

"Names Nick, but don't bother learnin' it cause I ain't stickin' around much longer. I'm 35." I flicked my eyes to the last one in the group. He had a giant smile on his face.

"Folks call me Ellis. But ya can call me El if ya'd like. Ah ran an auto shop with a couple of mah buddies. We were also in a band. Ah played bass. Ah is also 23" He showed his teeth and I raised my eyebrow before taking my pack of Bali Hai Cigarettes out of my back pocket along with my lighter. I took one out of the pack, put it in my mouth, put the pack in my pocket, and lit it. I took a long drag of it and blew the smoke out.

"Are ya gon' tell us who ya are, or are we gon' never know who ya are?" I looked over at him and rolled my eyes.

"Ah'm Grace. People back home called me GiGi. Y'all can call me that but ah don' care which ya choose. Ah'm 24, now if y'all would excuse me but ah'd like ta find a safe house. " I went to push by them, but the one in the stupid hat got in front of me and put his hands up yet again.

"Wer lookin' for a safe house too! Why don' ya join us till we find one? If ya stay out 'er by yerself any longer, ah believe that ya not gon' make it. And ah don' wan' some perdy lady like yerself dyin' cause ah let'er out of mah sight. So what ya say?" I rolled my eyes and took another drag of my cigarette before tucking it behind my ear.

"Fine. But if any of y'all shoot me or do anythin' to piss me off then ah'm leavin' y'all behind an' never helpin' ya if ah see ya again. Got me?" They all mumbled a 'yes' or a 'sure thing girly'. Nick was the only one who scoffed but agreed that he didn't want some girl running around on her own. Maybe he wasn't so bad?

"Lets go, I don't want you guys to get me killed. I've come to far to die now." Nick said. Okay, I lied.

"Ay Grace. Stay back here wit' me an' help cover them sorry asses wit' me. Ah'm always alone back 'er an' always get taken by the specials." Ellis announced. I shrugged and followed behind next to Ellis.

"So lady, where ya from? Coach and Ah 'er are from good ol' Savannah Georgia. Nick we still don' know cause he won' tell us, and Ro is from Cleveland Ohio." I looked over at him and saw him smiling at me.

"Ah'm originally from Asheville North Carolina, but ah moved to Boston Massachusetts two year ago." I looked away from Ellis and thwacked an infected, knocking it down. I then bashed it three times in the head before walking beside him again.

"Ah came all the way down here from Boston. Just ta tell ya, it was a bitch." I smiled as Ellis laughed. He also shot an incoming infected.

"Well, good thang ya ain't no Yankee or ah'd haveta shoot ya." I looked over at him and winked.

"Ya wouldn' be able to shoot me if ya tried anyway." He rolled his eyes and we walked on, killing common infected, the occasional smoker, hunter, and boomer. But we never saw a witch or tank. That is, until we saw the trailer like thing that led to what looked like was a…I don't know what you'd call it, but I would call it a maze.

"Tank!"

"Aw shit!" SLAM!

"Shoot it! Shoot it!"

"Damnit!" I was limping now, holding onto my side, where the tank had punched me. We finally go to the trailer thing and I collapsed against the wall. I took my little bottle out of my special holster I made for it and took a long sip. Ellis came to sit next to me and sniffed before looking at my bottle.

"Are yew drinkin'?" I looked over at him and motioned for him to take it.

"Yeah ah am. How do ya think ah can stay so calm during this shit hole? That's also why ah smile. Didn' start till a lil' while ago. Glad I choose these though. This smoke is tolerable." Ellis took a drink, making a face before handing it back to me.

"What kind is that! Its strong!" I laughed before putting it back in its holder.

"Ah made it mahself. Mad it before all this went down. Ah used to have mah own lil' shop ah used ta sell it at. Folks loved it, that is, until the CEDA came in and closed me down." I looked up and stared at the sky through the small window on the top of the trailer.

"Did ya make a lota money doin' it? I looked over at Ellis and actually looked at him. He had a little scruff on his face; he probably hasn't shaved in a little while. His hair that was poking out from underneath his had was wavy brown. His face was covered with scares and bruises, including a little cut on the bridge of his nose. His body was quite toned for a guy his age, and you could see a tattoo poking out from underneath his yellow tee shirt. He also wore a workshop outfit, but had the top half tied around his waist. His probably steel toe work boots just added to the whole look. To be honest, if we weren't in the zombie apocalypse, and he was all cleaned up and stuff, I would so hit on him.

"Hello. Earth ta Grace. Yew ain't turinin' are ya?" I snapped out of my daze and looked at Ellis.

"W-what?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"We're all ready ta go. Yew was somewhere else when Coach called out. Are ya ready darlin'? I nodded and stood up. I dusted myself off and got my guns ready. Nick opened the door and we all ran as the alarm when off, alerting probably a million infected. I looked off to my side as we ran through the maze.

"Guys! There's a switch up there on that platform! Ah bet if we flip it, the alarm will stop!" Everyone grunted and I tried to run faster, but of course these infected were slowing me down, along as the pain in my side. I quickly put my guns away and took out my bat. I started to swing at their heads or anything that would make them get out of my way so I could get through faster. When I was almost to the platform, the alarm was already off, meaning someone turned it off. I climbed up the latter as the others shot at the infected that were trying to get me. When I got up to the top, all the infected were dead and Ellis was smiling wider than before. I raised my eyebrow. I pointed at him and turned to Rochelle.

"Ah take it he's happy because he turned the alarm off?" Rochelle walked over to me and whispered in my ear.

"He's more happy Nick complemented him." I smiled and saw Ellis bouncing on his heels like a child.

"I think he'd like to tell you about it since you weren't here to hear it." I giggled with Rochelle.

"Ellis, ya can tell me all 'bout it when we get ta the safe house, which ah believe is through that way." I pointed to an open doorway. We all climbed down and walked in that direction. We were still on guard in case something attacked us. We came out to a parking lot with abandoned buses.

"Where is the safe house shortie?" I looked around and pointed with my bad.

"Mah gut tells me it's that way." I looked over at nick with a smirk before walking in said direction. I could hear mumbling coming from the suited man and walked on, suiting the wandering infected. After walking along for a few minutes, I spotted the safe house.

"Guys! There's the safe house!" We all ran at it and inside. Coach placed the bar on the door and I sat against the wall. I let out a long sigh I didn't know I was holding when Ellis came to sit next to me. We sat there like that for a little bit before Ellis turned to me with a big smile.

"Hey Grace." I turned to Ellis and set my gun down next to me.

"What is it Ellis?" I swear his smile got bigger.

"Ah flipped the switch, And when Nick an' the others got up there too, Nick told me he's never seen a man run so fast and that ah did a good job shuttin' the alarm off. He complimented me! Nick actually complimented me!" I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder.

"That's awesome Ellis!" He smiled even more. Is that even possible?

"Oh and Grace?" He said, sitting back against the cool wall.

"Yes?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"This one time, me and mah buddy Keith, we decided ta get high, but we's never gotten high before, but-"

"Ellis, shut up." I glared over at Nick.

"Aw hell naw, finish the story Ellis. Ah wanna hear it." I looked back at Ellis, who was baffled for some reason.

"Really?" I smiled.

"Hell yeah ah do!" Ellis smiled a toothy grin before continuing with the interesting story.

"We decided it would be a good idea, so we found our friend Tom an' he gave us the stuff and we smokin' it right, an' ah didn't smoke much 'cause the taste of it was nasty an' so was the smell. But Keith ya know smoked a hella lot of it! Ha, so he says 'ay! Lets jump off dis' cliff!' Me still being high n' all thought it would be fun. So we get to the top of a cliff right, and Keith jumps. Ah don't 'cause I was to busy watchin' birds fly 'round 'bove us. But when I remembered dat' ah was supposed to jump, ah look down ta see Keith had landed on a bear! Ah had ta laugh, it was real funny till ah realized he could get seriously hurt so ah went down there ta get'um. By the time ah got there, his whole body was covered in bruises and cuts! He was also sleepin' like a piglet haha!" I giggled and he smiled down at me.

"Ellis, that has ta be the greatest story ah have ever heard in a long time. Ah reckon yew could be a comedian." His ears perked up and his eyes lit with pure joy.

"Really? Can ah?" I nodded and he smiled so widely I swear that his lips would fall off or something. I felt someone tap my shoulder and turned. Rochelle was sitting next to me with a small smile.

"I'm so glad you're here. I was kind of getting sick of being the only girl in the group." I turned fully and grabbed her hands.

"Ah kinda know how ya feel. Ah thought ah was the last _living _girl ya know?" She nodded before leaning in and whispering to me.

"Lets go in the other room and talk girl stuff. I have _so_ much to talk about and couldn't with these goons always around. And they're all boys ya know? It's hard for them to understand." I nodded and we both got up and went into the one bedroom in the safe house and closed the door.

***_Ellis_***

Finally, someone who wont tell me to shut up when I try to tell a story! And she actually likes them, that's the best part! She's also kinda pretty. I don't like her, but if she was clean of all that blood, put into a tanktop, shorts and cowgirl boots, then she would be perfect. Her blue eyes I swear can pierce your soul. Her hair is a nice milk chocolate color, too bad its always in that messy bun of hers, I bet she would look amazing with it down. And her bangs don't cover her eye, which is good; that way I can she her whole face and not half of it. She wore somewhat of a heel on her black boots, which, I don't know how someone could do that in an apocalypse. She had loose combat pants and a loose tee-shirt on, both black. It looked like she had a tanktop underneath bit I'm not sure. She had a black jacket tired around her waist, as if its going to get cold, which it might since it's almost fall.

"Ay, Ellis, you paying attention?" I shook my head and looked at Nick and Coach. I blushed and scratched my head under my hat.

"Sorry, ah was thinkin' 'bout some stuff. What did ya say?" Nick sighed sarcastically.

"We were talking about Gigi. Coach was thinking about letting her join the ground and as much as I hate to admit, we need another person in our group if we want to keep going. If we let her leave and it be the four of us again, then we surely will die. What do you think?" I stood up and dusted my pants.

"She can join as long as the lady wants ta. No need for her to join if she don' want ta." Coach nodded after I answered.

"Go get Ro will ya? We need to ask her too." I nodded back at him and headed to the room they had retreated to. I knocked on the door and heard a squeal, followed by laughing. I sighed and knocked again, earning me a 'come in'. I opened the door and saw them both smiling.

Hey there El, what brought yew in here with the ladies?" I gulped. They looked as if they were to pounce at me like a hunter at any moment.

"Nick 'n Coach wanna talk to Ro for a minute." Rochelle smiled, hugged Grace, and left, patting me on the shoulder on the way by. I turned back to Grace and she smiled, patting the empty spot next to her on the bed, which I smiled and sat on.

"Ya know El, ah was thinkin'. Maybe it would be better if ah join y'all. Yew were right, ah wouldn't survive out there much longer by mahself. Do ya think Nick an' them would let me stay?" I looked over at her. So she _did _want to stay.

"Ah hell yeah! In fact, that's why they wanted Ro. Coach and Nick asked me if ah was alright with lettin' yew join our little group we got goin'. They're askin' Ro as we speak." She smiled and laid back in the bed with a content sigh.

Ya know it feels good ta be part of a group again. Mah group was a failure an' that's why ah was all by mahself when y'all found me." I laid back with her and put my hand up towards the ceiling, pretending to grab at pretend stars.

"There were four includin' me. One was just a teen, only eighteen! Ah don't remember her joinin' the group, but man did she put up a good ol' fight! There was a twenty year old, who liked the eighteen year old. He was a real looker too. Then there was the thirty year old. He was quite a creeper at times, but he was a good guy." I looked over at her and put my hand back at my side.

"What happened to them?" She sighted and turned her head to me.

"Ricky got Alexa preggers and got torn ta shreds tryin' ta protect her. Jake got drunk off beer he found in one safe house and thought it would be a grand ol' idea ta go screamin' naked down the street." I sat up.

"What happened ta the preggers lady?" She say up and looked at her feet.

"She died after deliverin' the baby." I looked at my feet as well. They did seem pretty interesting from here.

"What about the baby?" I looked over at her and she had her hand covering her mouth. She was shaking as she closed her eyes.

"She wasn't immune. She tried to bite me. Ah snapped. A-a-ah shot her." I looked away and heard a sob.

"Hey now, don't cry. Did you bury her?" I heard sniffles as I turned my head to her. She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face before standing up. She started to head to the door.

"After ah buried her and set up a grave stone, the damned infected bastards decided that diggin' her up would be grand. They ate her." She walked out and I gulped. Those infected really are monsters if they dig up a dead zombie baby. I sighed, taking my hat off and running a somewhat shaky hand through my hair. I put my hat back on and stood up, making my way out of the room. When I got to where everyone else was, I remembered something from earlier that I didn't know I even forgot.

"Ay Grace. Yew never answered mah question earlier." She cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrow.

"What yew talkin' 'bout Ellis?" I smilled. I wonder if I'll be about to get these people to forget that there's death out there, and think, even for a little while, that there is life somewhere in that hell hole out there.

"Ah asked yew if ya made a lota money sellin' that beer or wine of yers." She giggled before smiling at me.

"Well, ah wasn't rich, but ah did make a good 'mount of money doin' it."


End file.
